For the most part, the report is working off of predictions, but the facts are the Tesla Model S comes equipped with an entry-level 60 kilowatt-hour battery. Meanwhile, the Nissan Leaf is equipped a 24 kilowatt-hour battery and has been selling for almost three years now. If Tesla does indeed sell 21,000 automobiles this year it will have effectively used up nearly the same amount of batteries Nissan has utilized over the last three years in just 12 months.

That could just be the start. By 2015, Tesla has even loftier goals to roll out 40,000 Model S units, and there are rumors the next Model X will begin production in the same year, plus a third generation Model E is slated for release in 2016.

Green Car Reports also says that the popularity of the Model S has already shaken up the consumer battery industry. Panasonic, Tesla’s primary battery supplier recently more than doubled its profits to 4 billion yen just this year. The recent upshot in electric car popularity has prompted the Japanese electronics company to expand its production capacity, by reopening previously idled plants and building completely entirely new production lines.

The increased batteries production won’t just help Tesla, but also the entire electric car market in the long run. The greater and cheaper availability of lithium ion cells could entice more car manufactures to jump into the electric game and have less gas burning vehicles on the road.

LEAVE A COMMENT

This should also help a wee bit with the furthering of the technology advances in those cells. The manufacturers of battery packs using custom large cells are not going to get the 10% improvement along with the 10% drop in cost that Tesla has been seeing with the 18650 format. As the owner of flashlights using this size cell, I\\\'ve been really happy to see my battery choices getting cheaper and more powerful year after year right along with the LED they power.

Technically, Panasonic went from a 2 billion Yen LOSS to a 4 Billion Yen Profit thanks to Tesla. That's in their battery unit btw, a detail that somehow got lost in the piece. I believe the corporation as a whole still lost money.